Patrick Dempsey Says Next Season of “Grey’s” Will Be His Last

If ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy returns for a ninth season in fall 2012, star Patrick Dempsey (who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on the show) almost certainly won’t be around. In a recent interview with the Italian version of Vanity Fair, the actor announced that the upcoming season is “gonna be my last.”

Speaking to rumors that the show’s eight season might be its final one anyway, Dempsey said, “I do not know what’s going to happen to the other characters, but for me it’s done,” according to a Tuesday TV Line story.

“It might be the last hurrah for a lot of them; you never know,” said Grey’s creator Shonda Rimes. “I really don’t know and I don’t presume to know. Everybody has an individual choice to make and I get that…. All the originals are in play.” Ellen Pompeo, who portrays Dempsey’s onscreen wife Meredith Grey, has also expressed hesitance to sign on for the hypothetical ninth season.

“I feel like Meredith and Derek are meant to be together forever, and we’re going to make sure that in the end they end up together, one would hope — unless one of them dies or something,” Rimes continued, hinting at a storyline that might be pursued before Grey’s goes black.